1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to integrated circuit components and, more particularly, to supplying integrated circuit components with power.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over time, the magnitude of the supply voltage for various integrated circuits has been reduced. Where 5 volts and even higher was once a common voltage magnitude, more recent integrated circuits have specified supply voltage magnitudes in the range of 1.5 volts. In the future, the magnitude of the voltage is expected to decrease even further.
At the same time, the number of transistors included in the integrated circuits has continued to increase, and the power requirements of the integrated circuits have continued to grow. For example, modern processor products often consume 50–100 watts of power. If a supply voltage of 1.5 volts is presumed, the current required to supply 50–100 watts of power is on the order of 30–60 amps. Future processor generations are expected to grow the power consumption as well, requiring in excess of 100 amps of current at the expected supply voltage magnitudes.
High currents such as those now being experienced and those expected in the future are problematic. First, the integrated circuits are typically packaged in a device having pins for connecting the integrated circuits to a circuit board such as the mother board of a computer. The pins are relatively small in cross section, and thus the current that the pin can sink or source without damage is limited. In many current integrated circuits, as much as 2/3 of the package pins are dedicated to power and ground connections. To support high currents, even more of the package pins would have to be dedicated to power and ground connections, limiting the number of pins available for signal connections. Second, managing such high currents on the mother board is problematic, especially for the less expensive motherboard designs typically used in, for example, personal computers.
One attempt to address the high current issues is implemented in the Itanium 2 processor product manufactured by Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.). The Itanium 2 processor product includes an integrated circuit implementing the processor, attached to a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board also includes voltage regulation circuitry that receives a relatively high voltage input to the board (e.g. 12 volts), and reduces the voltage magnitude to the supply voltage used by the processor (e.g. 1.5 volts). The input to the board may be from a power pod module coupled to the board with a flexible connector. Power pod modules may be available from, e.g., Tyco Electronics, Inc., Celestica Power Systems, or Delta Electronics, Inc. The higher voltage input to the board may permit the current input to the board to be lower than the current input to the processor (since power is the product of voltage and current). However, this solution may be costly, since components to perform voltage regulation/power conversion with a physical size that is appropriate for the board may be expensive. Additionally, the processor manufacturer must become involved in board manufacturing, voltage regulator component stocking, managing lead time for the components of the voltage regulator, etc.
Another attempt to address the high current issues, implemented by Incep Technologies, Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), includes the voltage regulation module above the integrated circuit, between the heat sink and the integrated circuit. This approach also may be costly, as the components used to form the voltage regulation module must be small so as to fit between the heat sink and the integrated circuit. Furthermore, the current limits of such small components may limit the applicability of this solution in future products.